| Also Known As: Arberesh language,Arbëreshë
Description:
Arbëresh, Arbërisht, or Arbërishte is the dialect of the Albanian language spoken by the Arbëreshë, the group of Albanian-speaking minorities in Italy.
Arbëresh derives from the Tosk dialect spoken in southern Albania, and is spoken in Southern Italy in the regions of Calabria, Molise, Puglia, Basilicata, Campania, Abruzzi, and Sicily. All dialects are closely related to each other but are not entirely mutually intelligible.
The Arbëresh language retains many archaisms of medieval Albanian from the pre-Ottoman invasion of Albania in the 15th century. It also retains some Greek language elements, including vocabulary and pronunciation. It has also preserved some conservative features that were lost in mainstream Albanian Tosk. For example, it has preserved certain syllable-initial consonant clusters which have been simplified in Standard Albanian (cf. Arbërisht gluhë /ˈɡluxə/ ('language/tongue'), vs. Standard Albanian gjuhë /ˈɟuhə/). It sounds more archaic than Standard Albanian, but is close enough that it is written using the same Albanian alphabet as Standard Albanian.
Arbërisht was commonly called 'Albanese' (Albanian in the Italian language) in Italy until the 1990s. Until..... full article at Wikipedia |
